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NEWS
Audi RSQ3 confirmed for Australia
Compact SUV with a big heart will tear off up the road to 100km/h in 5.5 secondsAudi's fecund product portfolio continues to grow apace, with the prestige brand announcing it will bring in the 228kW RSQ3 from the first quarter of next year.
The news was delivered by Audi Australia MD, Andrew Doyle, during the media launch for two new variants of the A3 Sportback earlier this week.
"In quarter one, we'll be launching our first ever RSQ model," Doyle told local journalists. "The RSQ3 will arrive in quarter one next year; it will have a 2.5 [litre] TFSI engine, which you'll be familiar with from the TT RS. It's a 228kW powerhouse that goes from zero to a hundred in just 5.5 seconds."
The high-performance SUV is scheduled to arrive here around the same time as the A3/S3 sedan. For the moment, Audi is revealing nothing about the three-box A3, but Doyle did make it official that the S3 Sportback will launch in Australia from December, priced at $59,900.
"Looking at these models, starting with the S3 Sportback, we will be launching this in December, really competitively priced for such a performance model – $59,900...
"Quarter one of 2014, the Audi A3 and S3 sedans... we can't wait for that car to arrive. We've already got huge interest from our dealer network and our customer base. We really see that as a great opportunity for us, over the next year, for additional growth... in the premium segment.
"The S3 sedan will add a new dimension to compact sports cars in the Australian market..."
Unfortunately Doyle was not in a position to advise much about the price and specification for the sedan variants, but given his later admission that there will be a slight price premium for the sedan over the A3 Sportback, which we had first reported back in June, don't expect the S3 sedan to stay below that $60,000 price threshold when it arrives.
As for the specification, the mechanicals are likely to follow closely those of the three-door S3 driven in Europe by motoring.com.au correspondent Michael Taylor, and packaging will be based around the A3 sedan.
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Written byKen Gratton
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